Camping
by I-Confuse-Everyone
Summary: Rose wants to go camping much to the Doctor's horror. What will being stuck in a cramped tent in the middle of a rainstorm do to their relationship? One shot. Complete.


**Camping**

_**Disclaimer: Nothing you might **__**recognise**__** belongs to me**_

* * *

The Doctor stared at Rose Tyler, his mouth slightly open. He couldn't believe his ears. Surely she hadn't just asked him if he wanted to… No, he must have misheard.

"Say that again," he instructed.

Rose smirked, her wide brown eyes looking appealingly at him, "I said, can we go camping?" She fixed her pretty mouth into a pout,

"Can we go… camping?" the Doctor repeated, gob smacked,

"That's what I said," Rose replied, with a winning smile, "Please, Doctor. It'll be fun! I used to go every summer when I was little and I haven't been for years now. Plus, it's about time we had a holiday,"

"What do you need a holiday for?" the Doctor asked, "We travel from planet to planet- isn't that enough of a holiday for you?"

"I just want a break from running from aliens," said Rose, "_Please_ Doctor!" She pouted again.

The Doctor sighed, running a hand through his hair, certain that he was about to make a huge mistake, "Oh, alright," he conceded, gruffly, "How can I say no to that face?"

* * *

That had been two hours ago, and now the Doctor and Rose were trudging across a muddy field in the heart of the Lake District in 2007. They were both carrying large, heavy rucksacks that contained their tent and all the necessary equipment. The Doctor refused to let Rose moan about the weight, however. She had wanted to go camping so they were going camping.

"Do you know where we're going?" Rose panted, hurrying to catch up with the Doctor's long strides after she had readjusted her rucksack for the nth time,

"Nope," the Doctor answered, cheerfully, "Let's just see where we end up, shall we?"

"Well, that's what normally happens even when you put specific co-ordinates in," Rose said, with a smirk,

"Cheeky," the Doctor replied, swatting her lightly, "The TARDIS is a very old lady. You can expect her to get it right all the time,"

"Just like you're a very old man and can't be expected to get it right all the time?" Rose retorted, wickedly,

"That's ri… Hey!"

The English countryside echoed with the sound of Rose's shrieks of laughter as she attempted to run away from the Doctor who was chasing her.

* * *

About four hours later, the Doctor noticed that Rose was beginning to lag behind, her young face showing signs of tiredness. He glanced around the field that they were in, noticing the oncoming dark clouds with alarm, and decided that they would set up camp here for the night. He didn't really care if the field belonged to somebody- he had the psychic paper to get them out of trouble after all.

"C'mon," he told his weary companion, "Let's stop here."

Rose took off her rucksack with a grateful sigh and spent a few moments rolling her shoulders to ease the tension that had built up. Meanwhile, the Doctor was pulling out the tent and looking at it dubiously.

"Do you know how to put a tent up?" Rose asked, swinging her arms around,

"Of course," the Doctor said, his nose in the air, "You just rest there. I'll have it up in no time."

Rose raised an eyebrow but sank back onto her waterproof. She usually enjoyed helping to put the tent up but the wicked side of her was looking forward to seeing the Doctor struggle. She settled down for the show that was sure to be hilarious.

The Doctor didn't disappoint. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong and at one point, he had to chase the ground sheet across the field. Rose was enjoying the view very much but finally decided to give him a hand when the first fat droplets of rain fell from the heavens. She looked up, biting her lip.

"Let me help," she said, "Otherwise it'll get drenched." Before the Doctor could protest, she picked up two of the metal bendy sticks and slotted them together.

With their joint efforts, a neat little two man tent was erected within ten minutes. Just in time too, as the minute Rose banged the last peg into the soft ground, she heard an almighty rumble of thunder in the distance and the rain suddenly seemed to get harder. Also, they could hardly see now in the dim light.

They grabbed their rucksacks and quickly crawled inside the cosy little tent.

"Well, here we are," the Doctor said, with one of his trademark grins,

"Yeah," Rose replied, staring around, "It's smaller than I expected. I mean, it is Time Lord, right?"

"Not everything Time Lord is bigger on the inside," the Doctor said, seriously, "But actually, this tent is purely human. Picked it up from Earth a couple of regenerations ago but only used it the once and someone else put it up that time."

Rose hid a smile before suddenly jumping as the lightning flashed outside. She counted underneath her breath before the thunder rumbled. "It's fourteen miles away," she concluded, through a yawn, "I'm tired."

The Doctor nodded. He had thought so. "Do you want something to eat first?" he asked, watching her pull out her sleeping bag and take off her walking boots, "I grabbed some of that cake and some bananas before we left,"

"Yes, please," Rose replied, pulling a bottle of water out of her bag that she took a swig from. "Want some?" she asked the Doctor, taking a banana from him.

He nodded and took the bottle, drinking out of it without wiping the neck which Rose found oddly erotic. Quickly forcing the thought out of her mind, she peeled her banana and took a bite.

There was silence for a few moments as the two time travellers devoured their snack. However, Rose suddenly found she couldn't tear her eyes away from the Doctor's mouth as he ate. She watched as his lips surrounded the next part of the yellow fruit and he almost seemed to _suck_ on it before biting through it. He suddenly looked at her as she sat staring at him.

"Everything alright?" he asked innocently.

Rose nodded dumbly, quickly storing her banana skin in her rucksack. She jumped as the thunder roared once more. Trying to stop her hands from shaking, she shoved her bag out of the way, shrugged off her jacket and shimmied her way into her sleeping bag. She didn't look at the Doctor once even though she could feel his gaze on her all along.

"I… I'm going to go to sleep now," she told him, lying with her back to him, "Night,"

"OK," the Doctor replied, "Sleep well, Rose."

Rose nodded before letting out a small squeak as the thunder rumbled once more. The storm was very close to overhead right now and the tent was getting whipped by the wind and driving rain outside.

Behind her, the Doctor rustled around, preparing his sleeping area even though he knew it was very unlikely that he'd actually sleep. He felt sort of hurt that Rose wanted to sleep so quickly. From what he'd heard, humans often stayed up late talking in situations like this. He had been oddly looking forward to doing that with Rose. He grinned suddenly as he pulled his Converse off. She'd definitely been looking at his mouth earlier when he was eating that banana. Could Rose _possibly_ have a crush on him? He'd started to suspect so lately with certain actions of hers. Many of his past companions had developed crushes on him but he'd never encouraged them. But Rose… maybe she was different.

His musing was interrupted by a sudden intake of breath from Rose, audible even over the crash of thunder from outside. The Doctor frowned as he listened to her rapid breathing and ran his eyes over her tense, curled up form. Surely she couldn't be afraid of the storm?

"Rose?" he said, quietly, knowing she was awake,

"What?" she mumbled,

"You OK?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Rose retorted, clutching her sleeping bag tightly as the lightning flashed brightly outside. She readied herself for the inevitable thunder but still jumped violently when it came.

The Doctor sighed silently, sad that she seemed scared but wouldn't admit to it. "Just checking," he said before lying down and staring up at the canvas ceiling.

Over to his right, Rose swallowed, determined to not let the tears rapidly building behind her eyelids fall. She tried taking deep breaths to attempt to calm herself down but her body remained tense as it waited for the next sequence of thunder and lightning. Suddenly, an old song from a musical she'd watched as a kid came back to her and she began to quietly whisper it, not wanting the Doctor to hear her but needing to all the same. "Make believe you're brave and the trick will take you far…" She gave a small whimper as the thunder rumbled again, "You will be as brave as you make believe you are…"

Suddenly, a cool hand slid into her own, which was resting on her waist. She rolled over slightly to see the Doctor staring back at her. There was no smirk or anything that she'd feared there might be.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, quietly, giving her hand a squeeze.

Rose shook her head. She hadn't really tried but knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep with the storm raging outside. "Um…" she began nervously, "We're not in any danger are we? I mean, we're in a tent in the middle of a storm…"

"We're fine," the Doctor reassured her, hoping he was correct but he thought that the brunt of the storm seemed to be dying off a little now, "The tent will probably be a bit wet when we take it down tomorrow though." He sat up, still firmly holding Rose's hand, "So, what do you wanna do now? Not that there's a lot we can do…"

Rose gave a small smile before sitting up herself, shivering slightly as the cold night air met her skin. "Play a game?" she suggested,

"Which one do you propose?" the Doctor asked.

Rose thought for a moment. "There's I Spy but that would probably get boring really fast or there's…" She jumped slightly as the thunder crashed again, increasing her grip on the Doctor's hand, "Or there's Twenty Questions but we probably wouldn't know the same things to guess or, there's Truth or Dare, I suppose."

The Doctor grinned. "Truth or Dare, it is then." This could be interesting… He frowned suddenly as he noticed that Rose was shivering. "You're cold," he stated, the concern plain in his voice,

"I'm OK," Rose said, her heart already furiously thumping at the thought of maybe revealing some of her deepest secrets to the Time Lord, most of which revolved around him.

"Rose, c'mere," the Doctor said, the tone of his voice leaving no room for argument.

She slowly shuffled across the tent, sitting down next to him and suddenly finding herself pulled flush against his body and both of their sleeping bags fully unzipped and surrounding them. She felt instantly warm.

"Thanks," she muttered, as he retook her hand, linking his fingers through hers,

"No problem," he replied, tucking his spare arm around her, "Can't have you freezing to death, can we? OK, do you wanna start?"

Rose had to take a moment to work out what he meant and then remembered that they were going to play Truth or Dare. "OK," she croaked, her mouth suddenly dry. She coughed, "Right, Truth or Dare, Doctor?"

"Hmm," he mused, "Dare. Always love a dare, me."

Rose smiled, shuffling around to look at him as she thought up a dare. It was incredibly hard. She suddenly realised just how few dares a person could do whilst effectively trapped in a tent. There were some obvious ones, involving her, but she didn't like to play them, especially this early in the game. "I can't think of anything!" she finally gave up, in exasperation.

The Doctor chuckled. "I can't think of any either," he said, "Truth, then,"

"OK," Rose said, racking her brains, "How many companions have you actually had?"

"Oh, gosh," the Doctor replied, "Let me see…" He started murmuring to himself, counting on his fingers, "Around thirty one, I believe," he finally concluded, "Maybe thirty two."

Rose's jaw dropped. She didn't know there'd been so many!

Her companion grinned at her face. "Truth or… No, we're just playing truths now, aren't we?"

"Yeah." Rose swallowed, waiting nervously for her question.

The Doctor took his time before finally settling on a question. "Rose Tyler, my question is this. Are you scared of storms?"

Rose felt her face turn red. "I… I'm not normally," she said, "When I'm indoors, I like them an' everything but I think it's 'cause we're practically outside an' stuff."

The Doctor squeezed her hand. "You shouldn't be ashamed of it," he told her, "Lots of people are scared of different things,"

"Are you scared of anything?" Rose asked curiously,

"That my next question?" the Doctor said.

Rose simply nodded and turned her head to watch his face. He looked thoughtful for a few moments before giving his answer. "I'm scared of losing people," he admitted, "Since the Time War and losing all my people, it's made me more aware of people close to me,"

"Like me?" Rose asked, almost nervously.

The Doctor smiled. "Yeah, like you. Exactly. Right, next question for you, Miss. Tyler…"

* * *

The game continued for another hour, the questions getting more and more personal as the minutes ticked by. The storm had completely passed by them now, leaving a soggy tent and field for them to deal with in the morning. It had steadily gotten colder as night had drawn in, making Rose cuddle in tighter to her sleeping bag and the Doctor.

"And then I saw the window blind slide open and said the most obvious thing I have ever said in my life- "Oh, look rocks!"

Rose dissolved into giggles as the Doctor finished his tale, with a grin on his face.

"Oww, my ribs hurt," she moaned playfully, holding her sides, "I can't believe you sometimes!"

"It wasn't one of my better moments," the Doctor admitted, "OK, my question to you is this," he said, before pausing for thought. After a few moments, a wicked smile crossed his lips as a question that he'd been wondering about for a while now crossed his mind. "Do you have a crush on me?"

Rose froze, a hot blush covering her cheeks. She couldn't believe he'd just asked her that! It took several moments to get her mouth working again, "No," she said, honestly,

"No?" asked the Doctor, sounded perplexed, "Not even a little one? Don't forget this game is called 'Truth'"

"_No_!" Rose growled, suddenly feeling angry. She shifted away from him and turned to face him almost snarling, "No, I don't have a _crush_ on you. Not a little one or a big one. Alright? What? Do you just expect all your companions to fancy you or something?" She took a deep breath and the Doctor opened his mouth but she continued shouting before he had a chance to formulate any words, "That's just so big-headed of you, Doctor! You don't seem to give a shit about our feelings. Jack, for example, how obvious was it that he fancied you, loved you even but you just pushed him aside. Even Sarah-Jane loved you and you don't care! You flirt with us and we think that maybe there's a chance but it's always unrequited! It's just not fair. I'm in love with you but you're _never_ going to love me back!"

Suddenly, Rose found herself lying on her back with the Doctor over her, kissing her fiercely on the lips. She was stunned for a moment before her senses returned and she began struggling. "What the hell are you doing?" she yelled, pushing him away slightly,

"Don't you _ever_ say I don't love you, Rose Tyler," the Doctor hissed, his eyes flashing, "I love you more than I ever thought it's possible to love one someone!"

To say Rose was gob smacked would be a severe understatement. "W… what?" she asked eventually,

"I said I love you, Rose," the Doctor replied more gently now that his anger was ebbing away at the look of fright on her face, "I love you so much. And you're right. I do keep pushing my companions away because I'm scared of losing them like I said earlier. I can't allow myself to love them back, not with my life, but you… you, Rose Tyler, you got past those barriers somehow and I've found myself falling in love with you."

Rose couldn't speak for a moment. In a second, her wildest dream had suddenly come true. She half expected herself to wake up any moment.

"Do… do you really mean that?" she asked, with a dry mouth.

The Doctor nodded, stroking her trembling cheek. "May I kiss you again?"

Rose could only nod as the Doctor gathered her up in his arms and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, slipping his tongue between her lips after a few moments and exploring her mouth thoroughly. She closed her eyes, just concentrating on the moment and the feelings. Who knew when this would happen again? The Doctor said he loved her but would he want to embark on a relationship with her, knowing the risks that he would one day lose her too- although Rose was adamant that this wouldn't be down to choice? Only time would tell.

* * *

_**Review please. Constructive criticism is gladly received**_


End file.
